'New Old Stock' Elka Stopwatch

ELKA
Stopwatch
Late 1920’s
Chrome plated
Enamel dial
Manual wind  
Movement Excelsior Park cal. 3364  
11 Jewels   
Swiss made     
± Ø 5 cm 

New in our webstore is this ELKA stopwatch with an Excelsior Park movement, as with many watches ELKA used high quality brands and had their name put on the dial and engraved on the movement. ELKA would have paid a substantial amount to Excelsior Park to have the have their name printed onto the dial, and engraved on the movement.
What sets this stopwatch apart is the fact that it has a scale reaching 100 instead of 60 seconds, this is known as a decimal scale, it was used in industrial and scientific workplaces. So instead of dividing a minute into 60 seconds, a decimal scale divides a minute into 100 seconds. This made it much easier to: record the efficiency of the workers, establishing labor, accounting costs, and to calculate the machine's hourly production rate.
Another brilliant invention is the spare parts compartment which is hidden under the bridge within the movement, this was found in many 3364 calibers, unfortunately not in all of them. On the bridge/container you could read the Dutch phrase "Hieronder reservedeelen", meaning ‘spare parts below’, this was engraved alongside other languages. Of course, they received a patent for this superb invention. I mean this is pretty much every watchmakers dream come true, no endless frantic searching of impossible to find the spare watch parts, but just simply open the bridge and presto, the most important spare parts needed within reach. Though it turns out that this brilliance idea was in fact invented a century before, non the less Excelsior Park received not one, but two patents for the spare-part container one from Switzerland, and one Germany, both obtained in 1922.
ELKA Watch Company was founded in 1877, but it wasn't until 1913 that the ELKA brand became the official brand when watchmaker Lazarus alias Eliaser Kiek set up business on one of the most famous shopping streets of Amsterdam, Kalverstraat 206, and on the Leidsestraat 21. In 1949 the ELKA Watch Company opened a third Swiss branch in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
In 1865, a watchmaking company was founded in the vicinity of Saint-Imier by Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret, and this was the predecessor of Excelsior Park. Excelsior Park focused on specialized timekeeping instruments, particularly stopwatches and chronographs. The Excelsior Park Swiss stopwatch movement caliber 3364 is a highly reliable movement, originally patented in 1891, they were widely used in sports, and precision time keeping. A notable feature of caliber 3364 is the distinctive J-shaped barrel bridge, which is the signature of the Jeanneret family.
The ELKA brand is an abbreviation for Eduard Louis Kiek Amsterdam. Their high society boutique’s served royalty, and as the official watchmaker to the Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
We even visited the shop once or twice; the then very elderly owner Ernst Louis Kiek remained largely behind the scenes unfortunately but understandably.
The dial is beautiful and flawless, and made of white enamel. The 50 mm case is chrome-plated, and the hands are a stunning shape and created in blued steel. The ELKA stopwatch is ‘New Old Stock’ and dates from the late 1920’s, it has never been used, never seen action...its beginning starts here and now. It’s certainly captures the imagination, with a superb quality movement and roots in Amsterdam.